


DXDual Double SI FT: Nihilo

by Roland27



Category: Highschool DxD (Anime)
Genre: AU, Asia Argento is a pure bean, Familiars, Found Family, Genderfluid Character, Magic, Men of culture, Multi, Pawn Squad, Rias Gremory is a dork, Self-Insert, Team Bonding, meme trash, tag as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:13:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roland27/pseuds/Roland27
Summary: Two Idiots find themselves in the world of High-school DxD after a run in with Great red, Hi-jinks ensue.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 0: Prologue

AN: Hey Roland here, me and my Friend Nihilo decided to make this thing due to quarantine boredom, here's the first four chapters along with a prologue. Not sure how often I'll update seeing as I can get rather busy and have shit luck but I'll try my best I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 0: Prologue

Most people when placed in a situation such as this wake to an abyss or a blinding light. However such was not the case as one of two men began to stir to a world of colour.

The myriad of colours was vast and seemingly endless spreading in every direction, the only real absence of it was the suit he himself wore.

Letting out a groan he turned his head to the right and saw a man floating not far from himself. "Hey! Wake up!"

The man groaned… only to twist around and promptly ignore the source of the noise.

Letting out a sigh at that he began to throw himself in the other man's direction flipping a few times as he did so. Finally reaching the other man he grabbed his shoulder and gave him a light shake, "Look buddy I love to sleep as much as the next person but you need to get up we ain't exactly in Kansas anymore."

A single eye cracked open, blearly panning between the suited man and the kaleidoscope of colours all around, “Hrm, still asleep.” he muttered before closing it back down without a care in the world.

'God damn it of all the times for deep sleep' Just as he made to try and wake him up again a giant portal seemed to open revealing what was quite possibly the most terrifying thing he' ever seen in his twenty short years, a dragon the size of a fucking mountain loomed over them regarding the pair as one would look at an ant who had somehow climbed the empire state building. Now frantic the suited man began shaking the other with increasing intensity, "Getup! Getup! Look at that fucking thing!"

And get up he did, and look at the dragon he did. His response to its presence, however… “Ho there! Pleasure to meet’cha!”

For a moment the dragon was silent regarding the pair before letting out an amused huff inclining his head before turning away once and with a flick of his tail he sent them sailing away into a newly opened portal back to earth where they belonged. "To think mortals would somehow come here…"

[Suit-man](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/668949149269491742/735961295094022234/EFmqhVHWoAEwECM.png?width=374&height=474)

[Sleepy-Man](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dlk9DxdUcAAtbur.png)


	2. Chapter 1: Much Devil many Wut’s

Crashing hard into the ground the suited man let out a groan, taking stock of where he was before freezing as he took in the sight before him, an exhibitionist angel floating above a dying young man, a scene he recognized very well.

She seemed surprised at first regarding the pair with minor curiosity before her eyes shifted back into a cruel gaze. "My, my I was sure I had warded the area off of your kind, oh well I suppose you have no one to blame but yourselves for what comes next." And without a second to even speak two more spears found themselves buried in the chests of the two men as their world began to fade around them.

Upon waking the silver haired man found himself in a bed he was unfamiliar with, next to him was a young looking girl sitting on a chair by the bed munching on some sort of sweet. Knowing exactly who she was, the man pulled himself up and began an introduction, "Hello, I'm Anthony Nios. I assume you're the one who healed me?" She nodded at the question before motioning to the left where the clothes he'd been wearing sat, "Koneko Toujo. Get dressed and get your friend. Buchou will be here soon to explain." She quickly left the room after her Introduction leaving me to get dressed and collect the man who'd come here with him.

Exiting the room once dressed Anthony made his way into the room adjacent to the one he'd been resting in, seeing the sleeping man inside with no one else in the room he gently shut the door and hurried over to the man and shook him awake rapidly, remembering his previous experience with waking the man, "Wake up me and you probably won't have the chance to talk alone for awhile and I need to know if were on the same page."

“Can’t a dead man get some rest?” he grumbled, but forced himself up all the same, stretching like a cat and producing a small orchestra of creaking and popping noises as he worked the kinks out of his joints. Including that of his two brand new limbs, the spindly black wings that’d been hidden under the sheets flexing like oversized hands.

Anthony let out an amused huff, "Not quite dead yet, we don't have much time so I'm gonna rapidfire some info and questions at you. First off I'm Anthony Nios, secondly are you aware of the anime highschool DxD, finally do you know my online handle by the name of Rob."

He was met with a lidded stare flat enough so as to be two-dimensional. He let out a long suffering groan, a pair of fingers massaging the bridge of his nose, “Of fucking course it is. Bah. I’m Ni. You know the one. Hmph, some afterlife I’ve gotten.” He’d been killed and given another life, thus the term fit.

He let out a relieved breath upon hearing just who the other man was, this would be far easier to deal with knowing that there was at least one person he could trust, "Good to see ya Ni not under the best circumstances I'll admit but beggars can't be choosers. Now I imagine we'll be meeting with the boss soon so how do you wanna play whatever meta knowledge we have? Lay out all the cards, use it subtly?"

“We know about a fictional setting. This” Ni said, a wing tapping away at the wall behind him to emphasise his point, “is by no means fictional. Lord-” he hissed, wincing at the sudden spike of pain, “Motherfucker.” Still, he shook his head and continued, “Who knows how much applies between what just a few lads on our world thought up and what’s very much real here.”

He nodded back, "Gotcha we'll assume we know jack and go from there. I'll let ya get dressed. I imagine the three of us are about to get an introduction to the supernatural." Spinning on his heel Anthony left the room and lent against the wall waiting for his friend.

It took a little while, with no small amount of cursing as Ni worked out the logistics of dressing while having huge bat wings, but eventually he strolled out the room, wings draped over his shoulders like a cloak.

He gave his friend a once over as they began walking to the building's sitting room, "Couldn't figure out how to put them away?"

“I had to die to get these. Like fuck I’m giving them up to some minor wardrobe inconvenience.” he replied mulishly. He liked his wings and he wasn’t going to poof them away unless he absolutely had to.

Anthony let out a small chuckle at that, "Entirely fair, I honestly hope I have the reserves to practice magic myself the amount of tiny inconveniences that plagued my human life shall be crushed by the glory of arcane power."

“And no need to math our way to arcane power, either. Poor humies get such a raw deal.” he said with a shake of his head.

Still snickering at their banter as he walked into the buildings main room Anthony took a look around taking in the rooms occupants on one couch sat Issei Hyodou and Kiba Yuuto the brown haired boy looking incredibly antsy, on the other end sat Akeno Hinejima and Koneko Toujou.

Inclining his head toward the group he figured he'd say hello, "Good afternoon everyone my name is Anthony Nios pleasure to meet you."

Ni, for his own part, was far looser with his introduction, offering them a casual wave echoed by the matching wing as he piped up with a, “Yo, name’s Ni Li. Pleasure.”

The group gave us all a nod with some greetings of their own, Akeno with her usual ‘ara ara’ smile, Koneko with her stoicism, Kiba with his usual princely smile, Issei on the other hand seemed to jump to his feet pointing at the both of us, "Hey! You were the two guys I saw at the park, you remember Yumma right!?"

Deciding to keep up appearances he cocked an eyebrow and asked the younger man, "Ya mean the bondage crow lady? Her name Yuuma?"

Before Issei had a chance to confirm the Fallens supposed identity there was the whoosh of shower curtains opening as a red haired woman who could only be Rias Gremory stepped out of the oddly placed shower. "Ah everyone's here, perfect. Akeno could you get them some tea while I explain the situation to these three?"

With a hum of agreement Akeno strode around the room with practiced ease as Rias sat herself at the front of the room and made herself comfortable, "As at least one of you has found out so far the three of you are no longer humans." She said an amused glint at her eyes as she looked at the wings on Ni's back.

Issei now paying more attention to the details proceeded to point at the wings, "What the hell are those! Not human Ahh!"

“Wow, specist much?” Ni mock scoffed, mouth pulled into a crooked grin.

Rias looking even more amused in that moment continued her explanation, "Calm down Issei, yes you heard correctly you are no longer human but now a Devil." She finished her sentence off displaying wings of her own the rest of her peerage doing the same.

Deciding to speed things along Anthony asked the next question, "So seeing as we're now devils and haven't kicked the bucket i'm guessing we work for you now?"

The young king smiled at the question and gave me a nod, "Yes that would be correct as I have reincarnated you all that makes you members of my peerage."

At Issei's curious look Rias elaborated on what a peerage was, "A peerage is typically made up of reincarnated Devils that serve as servants and vessels to their King, I however try to treat my peerage as more a family." The girl said a cheery little smile on her face at the end of her explanation.

"Now let me explain who exactly it was that attacked you and why they did so." And so Rias did telling them about the greater supernatural world primarily focusing on the three biblical factions and the group of fallen that held Yuuma along with their reasons for attacking them.

Issei sighed scratching the back of his head, "So Yuuma killed me because of this sacred gear thing and killed these two because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

The Gremory heiress gave a nod and let out a sigh of her own, "Yes that about sums it up." Putting her smile back on she addressed the future Harem king once more "On the subject of sacred gears why don't you try and awaken yours, just visualize the strongest thing you can imagine and focus on bringing out the gear."

The young man nodded, closing his eyes as he placed himself in the iconic pose of the Kamehameha. It took Anthony all semblance of control in that moment not to burst out laughing and even then the young man was still biting his lip so as not to break his fellow peerage members' concentration.

With a thrust of his hands and a loud “Ha!” The boy's left hand was enveloped in a green glow as a red gauntlet formed over it.

Rias gave a nod, "I see you possess the Twice Critical, the gear allows you to double your abilities for a limited time."

She turned toward the two of them, "The two of you don't happen to possess any gears yourself so they'll be no need for any more Kamehamehas." She said a teasing lit to her voice as her eyes flickered over to her youngest pawn.

Anthony sniggered a bit at that, "That's fine was always more of a final flash guy myself."

“Partial to shining finger myself, even if I never actually watched the show.” Ni supplied, still smiling.

With a laugh Rias gave a nod "Okay you two we'll get you set up in some rooms and reconvene tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 2: The road to hell is paved with weeaboos

Anthony let out a little yawn as he made his way through the ORC club house to the sitting room, Rias had wanted the three new members of her peerage to get started on Devil work after having gotten through the paperwork to get himself and Ni enrolled into Kuoh Academy’s University.

Walking into the club room he noted he was the last to arrive, the other members of the peerage already sitting around doing their own things. “Yo, sorry I'm late my sense of direction has always been terrible. I swear I turned the wrong way like six times.” He said sheepishly scratching at the back of his head.

Rias simply waved her hand in a don’t worry about it gesture, “It’s no issue, Now let's get straight to business. The three of you are going to be working on forging your first contracts. Akeno and myself will get the three of you set up in the magic circle and send you off to various clients. Remember to treat them with respect but if their request’s are unreasonable you are fully within your rights to deny their wish. Now are there any questions before you head out?”

Anthony shook his head no before looking back toward the other two, Issei also giving a shake of his head and a quick “No bucho!”

“How overt can we be with supernatural stuff, especially magic? I assume the summoners are considered in the know by default, but what’s the policy with family members, close friends, bystanders, so on and so forth?” Li asked. Not that he had much overt magic just yet despite his best efforts. He’d brought the stuff to heel just fine, but the fanciest he got was being able to hold himself in the air without needing to flap his wings like a sensible organism. No prestidigitation for him just yet.

Rias gave a little hum, “Family and friends can be left to your discretion but know that being aware of the supernatural can be a bit mentally straining on some humans, as for bystanders regular procedure is to alter their memories of the events so as not to expose the supernatural world as a whole. However the three of you don’t need to worry about that for now as you’re newer devils, Akeno and myself will take care of any memory magic in the meanwhile.”

“Right, if worst comes to worst, just give you a call and send over some photos of who needs to be mindwhammied.” Ni muttered to himself with a nod.

Seeing as there were no more questions Rias got the three of them set up in the circle quickly sending two of them off with a flash of light leaving behind one rather confused Red Dragon Emperor.

Anthony looked around the small room he had been sent to spotting a rather shy looking girl staring at the flyer in her hand amazement and shock plastered on her face. “Hello Miss my name is Anthony Nios, Devil vassal of the Gremory house, Can I ask what you summoned me for as well as your name?”

The girl stared for a second before giving a shaky nod, “U-uh yeah of course I’m Saya Yugito, and I was wondering if I could.... Getsomehelponmyshippingteirlist?!” she said shouting the last bit quickly face red as a tomato.

Deciding to show some mercy to the girl he gave her a little nod, “Yea I could help though how much input I can give really depends on the fandom, what are we working with?” he asked with a curious tilt of my head.

She gave a little nod, still a little red, “You watch My Hero?”

He gave her a nod and a grin, “You happen to be in luck Saya for not only do I know the fandom I also happen to be shipping trash so let's get this party rolling.”

Seemingly more at ease at having a fellow shipper for help the two quickly got to work Anthony leaving a couple hours later a contract to his name.

Ni on the other hand found himself in a traditional japanese home, an eldery lady looking at him with a pleasant smile on her face, “Hello dearie, my name’s Kotaku I summoned you here for a little help around the house these old bones aren’t what they used to be I’m afraid.”

“Ni Li. A pleasure.” He introduced himself with a nod and a smile. While housework wasn’t exactly his cup of tea, he had no aversion to it beyond natural procrastination making getting started on it a bit of a challenge. But after that he got momentum going and it was no trouble.

Being on the clock and having none of his sources of entertainment available did that just fine, as did his bleeding heart automatically standing up to attention to pleasant elderly like Kotaku. “So, what needs doing?”

“Not too much, just a bit of dusting on some of the higher furniture and watering a few of the plants.” She paused for a moment, hand under her chin as she tried to remember the last item on her list when a meow interrupted her, a snow white cat rubbing against the elder woman. “Ah of course if you could feed Miki for me that would be lovely thank you my dear.”

Oh, a cat. Cats always were a plus. Good thing that the whole reincarnated Devil thing took care of his allergies, otherwise his nose would run like a faucet by the time he was done cleaning. Dust and cat hair did not get along with his system back when he was human.

He grinned, snapping a sloppy salute, “I’ll get right to it, then, ma’am.”

The old lady gave a chuckle and but a few short hours later Ni returned home his own contract secured.

Rias smiled at the two pawns after hearing their post action report finally turning toward her final pawn, “And how about you Ise did your contract go well?”

The youngest of the pawns merely stared blankly at the wall ahead of him before finally groaning out, “Contract with....Mil-Tan...completed Buchou…”

Anthony stared at Issei, the memory of who Mil-tan was still clearly in his mind unable to keep his amusement contained he roared with laughter pointing at his fellow pawn, “Hahaha, But Ise I thought magical girls were totally your thing. Bahaha!”

Issei now clearly annoyed shot to his feet pointing back with a fury, “Gahhhhhh! Shut up ya damn ikeman! Magical girl my ass!”

Anthony continued to laugh in the face of the boy's anger knowing that this was just the start of such tidings if the undynes played out like they did in canon.

Ni placed a solemn hand on Issei’s shoulder, “Issei, my man, the internet is not the only place full of unspeakable horrors. You must steel thyself if you intend to see your dream through.”

Issei seemed to pull himself together at this, a determined glint lining his eyes, “Aye Ni-senpai! I won’t let ya down I will become harem king! Please lend me your guidance!”

Without a second to let his fellow pawn respond Issei grabbed Ni by the wrist and dragged him away determined to receive more wisdom to build his harem.  
_________________________________________________________________________

“...and so it is that a true king must master the ways of time management and communication if he wishes to see his path through.” Ni wrapped up. He felt that Issei was focusing too much on the fat tiddy, and too little on the actual logistics. The lad was a complete gentleman once you got past his exuberance, but he needed to realise that he had to pull back his sleeves and work off his ass like he’d done to get into Kuoh if he wanted things to work out.

Issei nodded his head rapidly, “I understand completely senpai, thank you for your wisdom!” The exuberant young man exclaimed before performing the traditional dogeza.

Li chuckled, patting the lad on the shoulder as he dropped the grandstanding, “You got a big heart, kid. Cool down a bit and give the ladies room to breathe and get to know you. There will be no shortage of them that want a place in it.”

With a massive grin on his lips the younger man let out a happy laugh and raced off intent on achieving his goal ecstatic to apply the wisdom his fellow pawn had given him.

Calming down once Issei and Ni left, Anthony in his amusement laughed until the majority of his fellow peerage members ended up leaving the room with just himself and his king.

Letting out an amused scoff Rias raised a brow at her pawn, “Jeez Anthony it wasn’t that funny. It’s not like he got contracted by an actual pucchu or anything.”

Raising a brow back at his King Anthony allowed a smirk to form on his face, “Ah ah, Puuchu eh? Is Buchhou perhaps a weeaboo?” So flustered by the question the king didn’t register her servant's abrupt change of voice.

Flushed almost as red as her hair Rias immediately began denying the accusation “N-no! I don’t know what you're talking about! What’s a weeb!” She yelled, finally turning to face her now very female servant.

....

“AHHHH! Anthony, you've been hit with the Jusenkyo Curse!” She yelled running off to the shower that was still in the middle of the club room and cracking the heat all the way.

“Quick get in!” The redhead yelled, pulling both herself and her pawn into the almost scalding shower.

There was a moment of silence as the two gazed at one another, Rias in shock at the warm water not working, and Antony at the sheer fucking weeb logic her king had displayed.

“Rias… I’m genderfluid… Call me Toni in this form you Weeb.” Deadpanned the now named Toni a twitch in her right brow

Rias seemed to completely malfunction in this moment as she turned a crimson darker then her hair, “I, uhhh. What? Fluid, weeb?”

Leaving her king to her existential crisis Toni sighed exiting the shower with a sigh eager to change and get dry.

Over the next week Anthony and Ni worked on their magical capabilities. The latter focusing on his ability to effect both fire and ice magic becoming decently adept at performing both arts working on feeding one element into its counterpart. In his off time the eldest pawn would focus on utility spells to help him with his contracts, mostly minor telekinesis for its incredibly versatile use.

The former on the other hand decided to pick up the bow focusing on learning to master it along with shapeshifting the middle pawn now being able to shift into various animals.

The two were pleased with their progress glad they were stronger but all too aware of the very probable threat looming over them.

[Toni](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/2/2d/P5A_Sae_Nijima.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180409020214)


	4. Chapter 3: One After the Other

At the end of the week the entirety of Rias’s found themselves standing outside an abandoned warehouse as their king faced them, a serious look on her face. “Alright to go over this one last time let me explain why we're here. As a high class devil peerage it is our responsibility to not only defend our territory from outside threats but to hunt down any traitors to the underworld. These traitors usually take the form of stray devils, one of which we will be hunting down tonight. Ni, Issei, Anthony I want you three to stay back and observe for now so you can all get a feel for how a devil operates in combat.”

"You won't hear me complain about that." Li's elemental magic wasn't far along enough for him to be confident in going to battle with it. Plus, if memory served, this would be that acid milk spray Stray Devil.

Anthony nodded his head in agreement, “Yea that works for me haven't gotten the chance to start adding runes to these bad boys anyway.”

The only one who looked slightly disappointed at not participating was Issei and even then it was gone rather quickly. “Aye Aye buchou!”

With a nod of her own Rias motioned for the peerage to follow her into the building where they were met by the top half of a naked woman enshrouded by shadows. Issei in a split second went from slightly anxious to pleased as he excitedly pointed toward the woman, “Look Ni senpai oppai!”

"It is a trap, young Padawan" Ni replied faux-gravely.

Ignoring her pawns Rias stepped forward and addressed the stray with a commanding voice, “Stray devil Viser you have been found guilty for slaying your master, surrender at once and your death will be swift.”

The stray devil let out a sick sounding chuckle and began to rave at the King in a crazed tone, “Hehehe, you smell delicious little girl, I’ll rip you body to pieces and colour it like your hair!”

“Mhm. Someone didn’t get the memo of whose stomping grounds this was.” Li all but sing-songed.

With a snarl Viser stepped forward revealing her monstrous form she gave out an ear grating shriek her areola glowing a sickly green as acid sprayed out at the peerage.

Anthony looked to Issei, a disgusted look on his face, “And that my friend is why you never trust free tiddy.”

“Trust but verify.” Was Ni’s counterpoint. “Everyone gets lucky breaks, it is up to you to milk them for all they’re worth. Don’t let over-cautiousness get in the way of a good opportunity, but don’t jump in dick-first either.”

Issei merely nodded with the look of someone who had just found out that his favorite movie had been swapped for DragonBall Evolution.

With a snap of her fingers Rias regained her pawns attention, “Watch closely you three this next bit will be important, Yuuto start us off.”

“Yes Bucchou.” Disappearing in a blur of speed Kiba was beside the stray and cutting through her left arm a spray of blood leaving the stump of the appendage. “Yuuto is my knight who specializes in high speed movement.”

As the devil shrieked in agony it was unaware of Koneko until it was far too late the Rook picking up Viser by the tail swinging her around into a wall. “Koneko is my rook who specializes in strength and durability. Akeno follow up.”

With a smile the Queen let out an eerie chuckle as electricity crackled in her palms unleashing upon Viser who proceeded to scream her lungs out in agony. “Akeno is my queen who gains the upgrades of all the pieces including the increased magic the bishop piece provides.” Another scream fills the air as Rias pipes up, “Oh yea, she's also a sadist. That’ll be enough Akeno.”

The Queen shook her head in disappointment stepping away from her enemy. Rias stepped forward, “Any last words?” The mess that was once Viser could only moan out pitifully, “Kill me…”

Holding out her palm the power of destruction built in her hand, “Very well, goodbye Viser.” In but a second the energy shot forth leaving nothing of the stray behind.

Rias turned to her peerage with a smile, “Excellent work everyone lets head back!”

The next four days were rather wild for Issei, The first day he came into the club room gushing about the ‘Adorable Asia-Chan” and that she was a pure girl capable of no wrong. Eventually he ended up mentioning walking her to the church only to receive a large lecture on enemy territory from Rias.

This caused the other two pawns to work tirelessly in their chosen fields knowing the approaching conflict would be coming all too soon.

Anthony picking up runes to increase his bow’s capabilities and Ni doubling down on his elements, both of them improving rapidly with their singular driven focus.

This focus however would lead to them being far too exhausted to go out with the rest of the peerage when the time came for Issei’s encounter with Freed, the young man returning both injured and shamed with the group leaving Asia behind.

In an effort to cheer up their pawn Anthony and Ni decided to take the young man out on a pawns’ day out as Ni had coined it.

And so they found themselves strolling through the streets of Kuoh the sun high in the sky for what was without a doubt a beautiful day.

“Okay Issei, today’s about you. What do you feel like doing, browsing for manga, the arcade, see a movie?” Anthony asked a concerned expression on his face.

Issei sighed, “I don’t really know everything just seems so bland now since Asia was taken…”

Ni raised a single eyebrow, “So you’re saying you want to channel your angst into some training from hell? Because we can certainly oblige. A moving target would be great for both me and An’.”

Before Issei even had the chance to respond they were broken off by a happy voice yelling out, “Oh Ise! I’m so glad you're okay!” The three of them turned around just in time to see Issei get glomped by the young nun.

Anthony raised a brow an amused smile on his face, “Ah is this the ‘Adorable Asia-Chan’ our kohai has been gushing so much about?”

“Seems so, seems so.” Ni said with a chuckle, hiding the dead serious look he threw Anthony. ‘Minders’ he mouthed.

While the other two blushed and stuttered he threw Ni a thumbs up a jovial grin that took attention away from his serious looking eyes, “How about the three of us head off to the park not too far off? Should be a nice place to chat.” Not to mention it left the girl’s minders open to shoot at when the time came for the inevitable confrontation.

The four of them walked to the park Ni and An walking slightly ahead so as to give them at least a semblance of privacy while scoping out the area around them. Ni had taken the chance to subtly send off a very urgent text to bosswoman.

“So Ni, do you think I should head out to that dinner invitation for nine’oclock later?” ‘Fallen to the left’

Li hummed in thought, scratching the back of his head to get attention away from his off hand typing three letters into his phone and hitting send, “You aren’t quite sure, aye? I’d say wait and see. We can give you a ride there whenever if you do go through with it, tho.” ‘Hold your horses, I called in backup.’

Issei, still completely oblivious, immediately piped up, “Whaa?! You have a date Ikeman-senpai?”

Anthony let out a snort, “Yea I guess you could call it that, more of a business date really. Discussing some reparations I’m owed from back when I was a human.” Bitch thinks she can kill me and get away with it? Haha no.

Noticing the movement of a light spear heading toward them he summoned his bow and notched an arrow, “Looks like dinners come early prepare yourselves!”

“Say, An, how do you prefer your poultry, fried or chilled?” Ni asked with a chuckle he wasn’t at all feeling.

Loosing his arrow toward a blue haired fallen Anthony was quick to reply, “Light em up! Issei get you gear out!”

Not needing any further prompting the young pawn summoned the sealed boosted gear and took a protective stance in front of Asia.

Ni, for his own part, did the exact opposite of An’s request, conjuring a heavy sheet of ice around the feathers and feet of the Fallen.

This action led to the blue haired woman getting pierced in her shoulder with Anthony’s arrow, “Ha didn’t see that coming bitch!” The fallen growled at him, two of her companions flanking either side of them, one being Raynare and the other being the fedora boi.

Raynare stared at her enemies, sneer upon her lips and began to demand the return of Asia, “Give up the girl, you three are clearly outmatched.”

Ni hummed, shrugging ever so slightly for all that his guard didn’t lower a fraction, “Mhm, outnumbered and outgunned it looks like, aye…” He trailed off with an unpleasant smile.

There was a slight confusion on the fallen’s face when he said outnumbered when a voice whispered in their ears, “Ah you didn’t think he meant for our side did you?” Came the snarky voice of Kiba, Koneko flying not too far behind him.

The fallen’s eyes widened as they realized how badly the tables had turned against them, “Tch you damn devils will regret this!” There was a shattering noise of glass breaking as whatever barrier the fallen had put up broke allowing them to teleport away.


	5. Chapter 4: Rise and Fall

Ni grinned to himself as a sweep of his left arm had half a dozen pans flip their contents, a twitch of his fingers causing the fires under them to surge, the heat carefully distributed for perfect coction. His right, meanwhile, was occupied seeing to the whisking and cooling of a dozen pots of homemade icecream.

Meanwhile, not beholden to any extremity, there were four trays worth of pastries held airborne, only his focus keeping them from smashing into the counter and maintaining the temperature steady as they slowly baked.

It was taxing, splitting his focus so many ways and on so many levels of attention. But the results spoke for themselves. A couple weeks ago his brain would’ve overheated into aching mush within an hour of half this much work, but now here he was comfortably --if not easily-- managing the veritable feast of comfort food he was whipping up for Asia’s welcome party as an affiliate. They had wanted to hold a victory party but, well… they’d been a bit busy, reeling from their first kills.

Anthony seeing what his friend was up to shot him a grin, “Hey mind if I lend a hand?”

“Go ahead, although I’ll just start doing a few more things if you take work off my hands.” Li replied absently, “This is also training, after all.”

Giving a nod in return Anthony started chopping some vegetables as his mind began to recount exactly how the situation had been resolved.  
_________________________________________________________________________

Two days prior…

Not too long after the fallen had fled came the arrival of both Rias and Akeno, both of them looking fairly annoyed. “Looks like we just missed them.” Rias said with a scowl lining her lips.

Anthony still a little agitated turned toward his king, “Rias these guys clearly aren't going to stop hunting Asia down, and in doing so are going to keep causing problems in your territory. I say we strike while the iron's hot and get rid of those assholes now!”

Rias let out a sigh, “While I would like nothing more than to do just that we can’t eliminate them without due cause. As of now they’ve crafted convenient excuses and attacked someone we currently have no jurisdiction over…”

“Bah, with how Asia’s been behaving around Issei, we can say she’s an affiliate with him as her contract and nobody would doubt us.” Ni threw in with an easy shrug.

With a blinding smile Rias gave a rapid nod, “Yes that’s perfect! In fact I’ll take it a step further! Since she has healed Issei in the past we can even say the contract is healing in exchange for protection against any threats officially making her not only an affiliate but an asset to the house Gremory.”

With a dramatic point to the church Rias gave the command, “Everyone to the church! I’ll take Asia with me back to the ORC and then make my way over as quickly as I can!”

Grins spreading across the face of the peerage we began our march to the church quickly reaching the top of the hill where Ni got a horrible, wonderful idea. He shapeshifted into a peregrine falcon and took to the skies, before coming back down in that signature record breaking dive only to turn into a rhinoceros the second he was about to impact one of the stained glass windows lining the walls.

While the chaos happened from the window the rest of us kicked the door open catching the enemies still in shock completely off guard.

The voices of Issei, Anthony and Li all rang out in sync as they screamed,”PROMOTE! QUEEN/KNIGHT/ROOK!”

The group quickly split off as Kiba met his opponent in Freed, Koneko and Akeno advanced toward Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, and Mittelt..

Issei with rage in his eyes went straight after Raynare, Anthony and Ni making sure no mooks got in the way of the young devil.

To describe the next few minutes in a single word, Devastation. Kiba easily managed to drive off Freed once he pulled out his holy eraser.

The group of three Fallen had done well enough to survive with their numbers advantage but had been quickly been wiped out with the arrival of Rias to the field.

Ni and Anthony themselves carved through the mooks like a hot knife through butter showing no mercy to the strays, as Li played merry hell on them by turning the floor into a frozen slip and slide while also gumming up all their fancy pseudo-sci-fi gear with ice.

Anthony on the other hand took pleasure in simply shooting them in the kneecaps all while shouting “Oh no you can’t be an adventurer anymore!”

But Issei oh Issei showed the whole group up awakening his sacred gear to its full potential as the Red Dragon Emperor took his first steps into greatness, finishing off Raynare with the dragon shot.

All in all a very successful mission.  
_________________________________________________________________________

Just as the two finished off cooking the rest of the peerage arrived along with Asia to a veritable feast laid out before them a banner hung above the table with the words ‘Welcome Asia’ adorning it.

The group seemed to have a myriad of reactions, Kiba and Rias with gentle smiles, Akeno with a cheeky grin and the comment of us being “Nice house husbands.” Issei a happy grin on his face as he looked at the truly touched Asia who herself was sporting an awed smile and the beginnings of happy tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

As for Koneko she didn't say anything but she didn't need to with the way her body was practically vibrating, eyes sparkling with a tiny bit of drool leaking out the side of her mouth.

The duo adopted smirks, “Well what are you waiting for? Dig in already!”  
_________________________________________________________________________

Koneko happily munching what was already on her full plate walked over to Li tugging on the man's sleeve, “...What are the names?” she asked pointing to the variety of dishes on the table, a lot of them being foriegn with Ni and Anthony having come from Europe and North America respectively.

“Those three are different types of paella --meat, regular seafood and seafood with squid ink--, that over there is calamari ala romana, that dish over there I can’t recall the name of right this moment but it is fried baby octopi, those there are fried anchovies, their skeletons are tiny and brittle enough you can eat them whole as-is.” Ni happily rattled off, doing all the talking for both of them. He could tell she wanted to talk with him, but not speak herself, “Pot over there has goulash, a mild beef stew with potatoes, goes best with rice. And if you want something sweeter in between dishes, there’s a few cremas catalanas over there, basically soft pudding with a solid coat of burnt sugar. There’s also the coquetes over yonder, my hometown’s recipe, with extra lemon skin shavings. Also got some brazo de gitano and tiramisu over there in the icebox so I don’t need to keep it constantly cold myself.”

Once Ni had reached the desert portion Koneko began to fill her… now empty plate high with every aforementioned desert, giving Ni a pat on the arm for a job well done sticking near the man that had clearly earned her approval in a companionable silence.

Ni let out a happy hum, seeing about filling his own plate now that he was done talking. He liked Koneko, always nice to have someone with whom to be antisocial together when his batteries bottomed out.  
_________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile Rias had taken to dragging Anthony to a more secluded corner to talk about any sort of manga and anime.

The King realized after their last encounter that her pawn had recognized the reference she had made in her panic and figured he at the very least had a passing interest in the subject.

Anthony cocked a brow “So what's this about Rias?”

The crimson haired girl looked around the room with a cautious eye making sure everyone was busy and not paying attention to the two of us before leaning in and whispering in my ear, “Anthony do you like anime too?”

…Anthony leveled his King with a blank look before letting out a sigh, “Yea Rias I like anime too, ya know you don’t have to be so secretive about it right?”

Rias now looking panicked quickly put a hand to her pawns mouth with a whispered shhh looking around the room rapidly to see if anyone had heard him. “It does have to be a secret Anthony, what if Akeno teases me about it?” she panic whispered.

Anthony in a moment of mercy decided for the sake of Rias’s mental health if nothing else, not to mention the fact that Akeno out of everyone in the peerage almost definitely knew about her otaku nature. Whispering back he said, “Okay, okay whatever you say Rias I’ll keep it a secret now why don’t you tell me about your favorite anime.”

With a bright grin on her face Rias began to rave all about ‘Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.’ Quickly gasping in shock when she heard that he had only heard about it through word of mouth quickly promising that she would show him the series extolling all of its virtues, the more excited she was getting the less she whispered as the senior members of the peerage all shot the pawn amused knowing looks.

‘Heh subtle as a flashbang Rias’ Anthony thought, tuning back into the conversation, yea he could get used to this.


End file.
